A: Actually, I grew up making exactly this kind of movie and knew that someday a film like Spy Kids would be my trump card. I have nine siblings, of which I'm the third oldest, and I was always shooting these "family comedies" with my brothers and sisters that would actually win at festivals and stuff. But the actual genesis of Spy Kids itself came when I was shooting my segment of Four Rooms and I saw the kids in their tuxedos and commented to Antonio [Banderas] that they looked like little spies. So then I got to thinking about a mini-James Bond secret agent story, although I didn't pursue it right away because I knew it would require some sizable special effects and I felt I should get some FX experience under my belt first. Plus, I wanted to make sure that I took the time to develop a real story about keeping family together-after all, too many movies, especially movies for children, simply aren't about anything.

Q: I know it's well-documented that you were able to make El Mariachi for only $7000, but how on earth did you pull off Spy Kids with a budget of just $35?

A: Hey, I'm the king of low-budget filmmaking. But seriously, part of the reason that budgets are so out of control in Hollywood these days is that people tend to forget that moviemaking is essentially like a magic trick-you don't really need to saw the lady in half. Take the scene in Spy Kids where the robotic Carmen and Juni run up the wall, do the flip, and land on their feet. How would you film that?

Q: I don't know, build a revolving set?

A: That's exactly what most people would do and it's a needless expense. We basically strapped the kids in harnesses, had a pair of guys move them up the wall, shot them separately, edited them together and digitally erased the harnesses later. We got it done in one day and didn't have to train the kids or anything. I planned the special effects out very carefully-in fact, I planned them out simultaneously with the script so I could show everything to the studio at the same time. Of course, once I assured them that I could keep the budget under $40 they knew they'd be in the green financially and couldn't care less what I showed them.